Don’t ask what end the gods have to me or you.’

It took several months of preparation to organise our trip to the lost mythical climbing kingdom of Tarana. In the final days before the long awaited trip a storm front threatened to destroy all of our careful preparations but alas ars longa,vita brevis we pulled it off and below is an ode to the dedication to all those people who made it possible and survived the trip: Ben, Cameron, Gordon, Jason, Jen, Leo, Mark, Roman including a couple of feralPolish climbers who sent us some photos.

The weather forecast was abysmal and kept us on tenterhooks until the final hours before the trip. Tarana is an old school slab climbing area – in translation – you may not find a hold in a whole day of climbing; and visions of waterfall climbing were bubbling up in our vivid imagination. Eventually we all (almost) turned up at the picturesque camp ground at Lake Lyell, with the Japanese hot spring Sparadise beckoning us from across the opposite shore (yet another cancelation due to renovations). Mark and Gordon settled in first, with Jason arriving in the evening (Leo and Roman had spent a day at Upper Shipley but that’s another story) and by Saturday morning Ben arrived and we all braced ourselves for a short wet day of climbing on slippery granite.

Ben on Optem Bob	Leo Evans Crown	Jason on Kersplat	Roman on Jonestown

While the risk was great our reward turned out to be one of the most picture-perfect days with our shadows dancing across the smooth granite surfaces all day long. After a ‘healthy’ bacon and egg breakfast at the lake we hit the trail to Tarana early and were immediately dwarfed by the giant house-size boulders littering the landscape – a boulderers heaven. We found DeckoutButtressstraight away and obliterated most of the classics:

Kersplat (17** sharp)
The 99 Route (19** don’t pull  too hard on the flake)
Jonestown (19 ** watch the run-out)
Bloodbath (20*** sublime and now fully protected)

Mark on the 99 Route	Jen and Roman with Evans Crown vistas	Leo belaying on top

Most of these climbs have a serious reputation and used to feature only a single bolt or none at all. To our surprise many fixed hangars hadbeen added over the years in addition to brand new rap stations. Some of the old school ethics however remain and it took us some time to get used to the run-outs while learning to trust our feet.
Before long, it was time to explore another area and heading downhill from the Deckout Buttress we fought our way through long lost trails amidst the stinging nettles clawing at our feet, to arrive at the bottom of the Coffin Hole a narrow chimney with panoramic views of the major Googolplex Buttress,where the classic Fuzzy Navel (18***) and several other multi-pitch routes are located. This is when Jen – the birthday girl who was instrumental in arranging this trip joined us with Cameron. So we decided to head for Crown Buttress at the very top and climbed up the exposed Coffin Hole only to chance upon Six Days on the Toad (21***). It was simply impossible to just walk past this superbmajor 45 meter pitch of exposed granite. After everyone had a go on this amazing line, we reassembled at the bottom of Crown Buttress and began the afternoon activities:

Optem Bop (16 ** with its undercling crux)
JikaJika (18** hard boulder slab to easy finish)
Rab Station Zebra (21** two tough crux slabs with lots of exposure and a death fall run-out). I thought this was Celeborn (17) at first!
Two more climbs further up the hill from Up the Nose of Love (16*** I had a close look at this climb but only found one bolt in 40 meters ??? ):
Blue Train (17**)
Hotel du Lac (23**)

Crown Buttress Slabs	Ben on the 99 Route	Slacklining Masters	Blackheath Breakie

Finally Leo and Roman went searching for a way to the top of Evan’s Crown, we got very close, but turned around at a spot after 6 meters of solo bridging, where a single Camelot no.6 placement (which Jason left in the car) guarded the way to the top. A short 6 meter wide hand-crack led to the summit: it will have to wait util next time.
Heading back to the camp ground there was still enough sunshine for a quick plunge in the icy lake and we were ready for the late arvo slackliningsession with beer session for extra balance. Dinner was a communal affair by the light of our head torches and the last thing I remember was the dulcet tones of a guitar strumming me to sleep….

Next day Sunday we woke to the weather we were expecting: gone was the ‘hot gold hush of noon’ and rain, clouds and freezing temperaturesguided us to the nearest Blackheath bakery to contemplate yet another climbing session in the rain…..
In the end, Tarana is a place where many of the classic lines ‘have already gone back to nature’ and where the good old days give way to better new ones.

‘While we [strive] envious time will have fled: carpe diem, trusting as little as possible in the next.’

For more photos of Tarana Climbing go HERE.

Roman 12 November 2013.